Mexico City’s bicycle-sharing program is growing and being copied. The project “Women
using EcoBici, Mexico City's bike sharing
program” reduces traffic congestion and air pollution while providing flexible transportation
to the city’s women.

Fast facts:

Increased women’s use of bicycles in Mexico City from 10 to 38 per cent

With more than 21 million inhabitants, Mexico City is among the most-populated cities in the world. The
majority of citizens there use motorized transportation, which is the main source of air pollution,
including greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide that contribute to climate change.

Women have less access to quick and reliable transportation, and tend to have multiple purposes on their
trips since they often balance work, home, and childcare roles. Women thus need flexible transport to take
them to their varied destinations.

The solution

The government of Mexico City established EcoBici in 2010 to make bicycles available to individuals for
shared use on a short-term basis. Users register and pay a scaled fee to be able to check out a bicycle
from one station, which they can ride and drop off at any other station.

EcoBici is the first system of its kind in Latin America, and includes a feature to incentivize the use of
bicycles through points gained when users take trips. These points can be exchanged for rewards like movie
tickets, music gift cards, or books.

Women of Mexico City have gained a cheap, efficient, and flexible mode of transport. People who ride
bicycles are able to more easily stay fit, while everyone benefits from reducing traffic and pollution,
including from the noise of motors.

Spillover effect

The project has increased in scale since it started, and is projected to reach carbon reductions of 340
tons by the year 2020. That the project is financed by a combination of government, private investors, and
users makes it replicable in a number of contexts. In fact, a public bicycle system has been implemented in
Mexico’s second-largest city of Guadalajara, while two other Mexican cities are in the process of
establishing similar programs.